


A Normal Life

by JayBird (AndroidHeaven)



Category: Marble Hornets, Slender Man Mythos
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-08-25 00:46:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16651093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndroidHeaven/pseuds/JayBird
Summary: Jay wakes up from a nightmare and asks for Tim's help to distract him from his dark thoughts. They imagine how it would be nice to have a normal life with each other.





	A Normal Life

**Author's Note:**

> My first work on MH fandom yay! Comments would be well appreciated <3  
> Trigger warning for the angst.

It’s too cold and lonely to be awake, despite the fact of not being entirely alone yet somehow distant. It’s even colder to be asleep, swimming in the imagery of unwanted thoughts that run through your head and heart, suffocating with every new scene that does not come from a screen. Sometimes Jay does not know which is worse, remembering or not remembering everything. What he does know is that the world seems to be shattering every time he manages to wake up.

It was no different this time; sweat dripping down his temple, heart pounding in his chest and fear shaking him awake as Jay gasped for, what it seemed like, inexistent air to fill his burning lungs. He looked around the cheap hotel room as soon as he sat up, analysing every sound coming from the silent room and scanning every inch of it, looking for unwanted guests although hoping there was none. His eyes adjusted to the dark almost instantly, noticing that the camera was still recording and his roomie Tim was still asleep on the bed beside his. Jay sighed in relief, glad that there was nothing more than his thoughts haunting him at the moment. After a moment of collecting himself, Jay wished to go back to sleep and pretend his life was nothing but a nightmare. However, there was no point in running away from a nightmare into another nightmare. The question still remained in Jay’s mind.

_Which is worse: the existent or the inexistent?_

It didn’t matter in the end, because Jay wouldn’t be able to sleep anytime soon again. It was rare enough for him to fall asleep, even rarer for him to sleep after being abruptly woken by the darkness of his thoughts.

He kept shifting in the bed, trying not to ponder about things but that was his speciality nevertheless. The darkness that remained in the room and the silence was beyond uncomfortable for Jay, considering something could happen at any moment any day. What if someone, like Alex or that hooded creep broke into their room at the very next minute? What if that  _thing_ appeared at the next beat of his heart? Jay needs distraction, otherwise he feels like he’s going to succumb to insanity before needed. 

His heart was once more racing in his chest, although this time was not because of fear but nervousness. Jay didn’t need to be alone when Tim was right there with him, he didn’t need to be fighting his thoughts all by himself. Both of them have convinced themselves so deeply that they are alone, that they blocked the fact that they have each other. Jay thinks his own problems are way too “useless” for Tim, who’s been suffering all his life; And Tim doesn’t want to bother Jay with his personal issues when that man has been living on a constant run filled with events he wishes never happened.

Jay just wanted them to get along as people instead of victims of a vivid nightmare. 

With a bolt of courage, immediately followed by regret, Jay opened his mouth.

“Tim?” 

It was almost a whisper, obviously not loud enough to wake him up. Jay was still hesitant to call out for Tim’s help. What if he told Jay that he was stupid and then be mad at him for waking him up for such dumb reasons?

“Tim...”

The voice was louder yet not stronger, cracking halfway. The only response Jay managed to obtain was a soft rustling in the bedsheets coming from Tim’s bed. 

“Tim!”

The voice was loud enough to fill the entire room, and that regret struck Jay like a lightning once again. He definitely woke him up now. 

“What?!” Tim bolted upright in his bed, worry spread across his face and Jay never felt so stupid before in his life.

“U-Uhm, it’s nothing much. Don’t worry!” Jay tried to convince the man who was now looking around the room that there was no one else there with them.

Tim sighed in relief almost instantly, his gaze now focused on the man who woke him up, expecting an explanation. Jay froze in place for a second, Tim’s piercing gaze looking through his soul, and the blue-eyed man never felt more vulnerable in his life. And stupid.

“It’s just... I can’t really sleep and uh...” Jay gulped, stumbling on his words more than he cared to admit. “I also had a nightmare and now I can’t...”

Jay realized how even more stupid the situation he put himself was at the moment the words left his mouth. He refused to even look at Tim in the eyes now, running away from his curious stare. 

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have...” Jay turned apologetic in a second, trying to undo the awkwardness of feeling like a kid who woke up their parents because they had a silly nightmare. 

But Tim didn't seem to mind, though. He didn’t seem to be judging.

“It’s okay, Jay.”

Tim’s voice was softer than Jay has ever heard and the tone implied actual care towards his stupid reasons for waking him up in the middle of the night when there are worse things like people and things chasing them. Jay’s eyes darted over Tim again for a second before looking away again, slightly embarrassed for feeling comfort in talking to his partner. 

“Do you want to talk about it or?” Tim’s voice sounded more like himself now as he seemed to be fully awake. His tone is an attempt of sounding cool even though his voice implies an imminent kindness, as usual. 

“No, I just... Want to talk about anything.” Jay needs distraction.

Tim looked confused for a second, but soon adjusted himself in his mattress to be more comfortable as he knows there’s just the two of them in that room and, seemingly, in the world at the moment. 

“Alright.”

The response was better than Jay has ever expected. But that was it. None of them knew how to start a conversation, especially with each other in this situation. The silence that was hanging over them in that hotel room was probably worse than the silence present before Tim woke up. Honestly, at this rate, if they were to talk about birds flying in the moon Jay would not mind.

“What were you doing, before all this?” Jay’s question broke the pending silence, raising a confused look coming from the man who was now carefully watching him.

“You mean, besides me jumping around jobs?” 

Jay slightly chuckled at that. It’s not something funny but the way Tim manages to say it so lightly it’s almost comical. 

“Yeah, did you study something?” 

Tim sighed for a moment, a bit reluctant to share that information.

“Music.” He sounded a bit embarrassed, as if a film student would judge someone who studies any type of art.

Jay smiled fondly, he shouldn’t be surprised considering all the tapes back from Marble Hornets when Tim was playing with some instrument in his music room. 

“Makes sense.” He almost whispered to himself, imagining Tim as a great musician.

Tim raised an eyebrow at that comment, unsure what Jay meant by that. He had completely forgotten that Jay watched every single behind the scenes Marble Hornets tape and been to Tim’s music room. 

“How so?”

“It suits you.” 

And that topic ended. Before the awkward silence could settle in again, Tim decided to keep pushing further the conversation about a normal life. Anything to keep reminding themselves how their lives right now are not the ones they ever imagined for themselves.

“Would you go back to being a film student? I mean, after all this...” 

Jay really couldn’t tell because he never thought about it. He would probably have had enough of tapes for a lifetime, but film making is or at least was his passion. He honestly can’t tell anymore. Jay doesn’t know if he would be traumatized forever with the only thing that gave him life before. 

“I have no idea.”

“Well, I’m sure there must be something else you’d like to do.” 

Jay can’t remember what he used to like, can’t remember what he used to want to do. He can’t even remember what he used to do, and that is not because of memory loss episodes. It’s because he didn’t do anything at all with his life. Jay sometimes hates himself for being glad to be doing something now, as messed up as it is. It’s more than he has ever done in his entire life. That’s why it was so easy for him to just jump right into the investigation with his life at cost. He had nothing to lose, because he had nothing at all.

“I used to like to hang out with Alex during the Marble Hornets filming.” Jay confessed. It was the only time he wasn’t completely alone and was doing something. That’s where he met Tim as well, although he doesn’t remember it from his head. They were his friends.

Look where that friendship brought him.

Tim sighed silently, noticing how Jay was getting sadder at that talk. It was not much use if Tim were to help him out of his fear but make him sad instead. 

“Until you’d figure what to do, we could hang out together then.” 

Jay’s lips curled at that thought a bit. He always had a vivid imagination and it didn’t take long for him to imagine a normal everyday life with Tim. He had never thought of that because he had never even considered going through all of this with him.

“That would be nice.” Jay smiled in response, an honest and warm smile that sent comfort all over Tim, who was glad this was working.

“Hell, at some point we could even live together.” Tim joined the imagination, his mental imagery almost conjoined with Jay’s. “But bear in mind I won’t afford the expenses alone, so find a damn job.”

Jay laughed at that, and even when the laughter was gone the smile was still present. 

“That would be amazing.”

Jay agreed. But that’s the thing: it  _would_. None of them even dare to say it  _will_. 

“Indeed.” Tim chuckled in response to the statement, unaware of the morbid thought forming in Jay’s head again and ignoring his own. 

_Is there even a future for both of us? Is there a future at all?_

**Author's Note:**

> I'm thinking about writing some more with these two, but I'm not sure anyone would read it.


End file.
